These documents concerning the City’s discussion of Vick Cemetery in the half-decade prior to its clearing of the space came to me not via my own public records request, but that of a media outlet. I will publish the memos, with comments, in two parts — the first from 1989-1991, and the second from 1994-1995.

On 18 February 1989, the Wilson Daily Times ran a full-length feature article on Ben Mincey‘s attempts to maintain Odd Fellows cemetery. Perhaps it was coincidence, but several months later, the cemetery commission solicited a bid from James A. Hill for cleaning “Rountree Cemetery.”

The bid was not accepted.

In January 1990, Assistant City Manager Charles W. Pittman III sent City Manager Cyrus Brooks a memo detailing the history of Wilson Cemetery Commission. It’s not quite accurate, as it completely skips over Oakdale and Vick Cemeteries and misdates Rest Haven’s establishment in recounting cemetery operations pre-commission. Still, it’s an interesting document.

Three months later, in April 1990, Pittman sent Brooks another memo. The first three paragraphs deal with changes to the management of the cemetery commission’s ledger. Concerns about the commission’s accounting practices are not new. The final paragraph though: “The Vick Cemetery located one Lane Street continues to be under study by both the Fire Department and the Public Works Department for possible means of addressing the grown-up situation. At the present, it appears burning is the most feasible process and possibly following with soil sterilization. As the weather clears a decision will be made in the near future of how to address this situation.”

A year later, a new city manager, Edward A. Wyatt, was in place. On 29 May 1991, Director of Public Works William P. Bartlett sent Wyatt a memo with his recommendations for Vick Cemetery. In the first paragraph, he notes that a staff member “determined” that the City bought Vick years prior. (A simple deed search establishes this, but as recently as 2021, the City was still scratching its head and acting perplexed about this basic fact.) He follows with “it was the responsibility of the Cemetery Commission to maintain same.” (And yet the cemetery was not deeded to the Commission until 2021 — 30 years later — when the City “determined,” again, that it owned Vick.)

Bartlett mentioned James Hill’s 1989 proposal, noting there had been insufficient funds to carry it out. Also, “they [Hill] informed the City that if the City would prepare the site so that it could be mowed, they would maintain it.” Eventually, this is what happened.Hill and employees mowed Vick (and apparently unbeknownst to the city, the front of Odd Fellows) until about 2020.

Bartlett asserted his disapproval of the Commission’s proposed plan for Vick (which Hill’s bid responded to), “as it suggests using dozers and backhoes to dig up stumps and remove the growth. This would destroy grave sites and I believe the intent is to preserve same.” (This is odd. On 11 January 1991, the Daily Times published a photo of two city employees using a bushhog to clear Vick.) Bartlett then laid out his counterproposal, which can be summarized as: soil sterilization, controlled burn, level and grade with soil to fill depressions. (Soil sterilization, of course, would have killed any plantings, like yucca, daffodils, or cedars, by families to mark graves. Fire destroys wooden grave markers and can damage cement headstones.)

Kent Montgomery, Director of Parks & Recreation, followed up with a formal outline of Bartlett’s proposal, but noted that his department was unequipped to handle the work.